


Our Own Rocky Shore

by Fox_Salz



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Established Tavros/Aradia, F/M, Humanstuck, Kinda, Latino Tavros, M/M, Medium Burn, Merstuck, Multi, Polyamory, Team Charge, also lots of nonsexual touching, for gamzeeweek on tumblr, merfolk, merman Gamzee, no one is really good at keeping their hands to themselves, not slow enough to be slow burn but like there's a slowish build up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-22
Updated: 2018-05-22
Packaged: 2019-05-09 16:40:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14719773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fox_Salz/pseuds/Fox_Salz
Summary: Gamzee's been secretly spying on some humans, until they spy him and suddenly he has two new amazing friends.





	Our Own Rocky Shore

**Author's Note:**

> I figured since it's MerMay and Gamzee Week I'd combine two things I love. 
> 
> This got longer than I intended, and also I hadn't even meant for Gamzee and Aradia to end up together, too, but here we are.

Gamzee hadn't even realized the sun was dipping down out of sight until the humans he had been watching started gathering up all their stuff he didn’t have names for. He just knew these land dwelling creatures were miracles that had built amazing civilizations up out of the water where he couldn’t see them. Conquered the dry, but still came to his waters and splashed around kinda like they wanted to go back to the seas they had escaped from all those thousands of miraculous years ago.

If you believed the old myths that humans were just merfolk that had given up their tails and sprouted legs instead. Which Gamzee did, even if everyone else laughed at him. 

Maybe it was because, deep down in a place Gamzee would never admit to anyone, he wanted to find out how those little humans managed it and do it himself.

Which was straight up blasphemous. Gamzee wouldn’t deny what his heart craved, though. Not that it mattered much, of course. It was just a desire he couldn’t do nothing with except spy on these lucky leg-having motherfuckers, two in particular.

_Who were coming his way._

Gamzee ducked behind the rocks with a quickness; he didn’t fully submerge like he probably should have, though. If they all up and got too close he would but for right now curiosity was overruling what little common sense he had. Not an uncommon event, truth be told.

“Wait up, Aradia!”

The other one laughed, a giddy sound that bounced off the rocks and engulfed Gamzee. He couldn’t help but peek out from his hiding spot. They were still a bit ways off, and would have to do some climbing to get much nearer, so he felt it wasn’t too risky.

Humans were such pretty fuckers. These two really complimented each other. One had free flowing hair almost as long and floofy as Gamzee, while the other’s was much shorter and only in the middle of his head. That one was also taller and skinnier, lacking the luscious curves of the other. Not that Gamzee didn’t find the tall one attractive. Hell yeah he did, with bronze skin in juxtaposition so nicely with the chubby one’s paler complexion. These humans looked good together.

They were speaking quieter now; Gamzee had to strain to hear them and what he caught was broken. Not that he’d much understand what they were talking about anyway, but it fascinated him nonetheless to hear these humans speak.

“Can you make it up this rock? I just want to see the sunset from the best vantage point on the beach.”

“I, uh, can probably, make it up just this one. I think.”

The bouncy one—Aradia, Gamzee was pretty sure—clapped their hands then helped the other one up that first rock. Listening close he heard Aradia call this one Tavros. Gamzee rolled the names around in his mouth and quickly decided he liked the feel of them.

While they were distracted Gamzee zoomed forward behind another rock, closer to the pair. They didn't notice a thing, too intent on some metal pole thing Tavros was using. It looked difficult to work with on the rocks, but it seemed like Tavros needed it.

Once they were all settled on the rock the humans looked out at the sun which had nearly disappeared for the day, leaving behind a plethora of colors in the sky. Indigos, pinks, and several shades of purple that matched Gamzee’s scales. It was a beautiful motherfucking sight for sure, but Gamzee only had eyes for these humans. 

Feeling brave, he decided to slink a little closer. Then closer and closer still until he was right behind them in the water, staring up at their backs. The humans were so close Gamzee could reach out and touch them. So he did, because as his best friend liked to tell him on a daily basis, Gamzee had no goddamn sense in his addled thinkpan.

It was brief, really, just grazing his fingers against the end of Aradia’s fluffy hair. He really liked the feel of it, so soft and slick with mist from the ocean. Gamzee glanced at Tavros’ short hair and knew he had to see how it felt, next. To do that, though, he would have to hull himself half out the water.

So Gamzee did. 

With Tavros’ hair so short he had to really lean in. It was a struggled to brace himself properly on the rock one-handed especially since both it and his skin were wet, and he wobbled dangerously. That wasn’t enough to change his mind, of course, and he reached out to the human’s pretty black hair. 

As soon as his fingers threaded through the equally soft strands Gamzee’s hand went right out from under him. Gamzee let out a distressed honk before slamming back down against the surface of the water. 

Both humans whipped around with a quickness, and with equal quickness Gamzee ducked down beneath the water and made himself scarce. His heart thumped in time to their surprised shouts.

Even with such a close call Gamzee couldn’t wipe the giddy smile from his face. He had touched humans! Two! And damn they were pretty, and soft, and with any luck Gamzee could see them again.

From a distance, of course.

He did not keep his distance.

To be fair it totally wasn’t his fault the next time he came very close to the humans. Not _fully_. 

After that incident, the very next day in fact, he came back to the beach. He had tried to stay away—not very hard, but Gamzee felt he deserved credit for at least trying—but it called to him. So he went back, and it turned out his two little humans had returned, too. Not only had they come back to the beach, but they were specifically hanging around the rocks where Gamzee usually hid to do his spying.

He still zipped between the rocks, careful not to emerge unless he was sure he wouldn’t be spotted. Which was easier said than done. Aradia ( _she_ , Gamzee learned) was all up and down the rocks with a fierce determination in her eyes that awed him. Likewise, Tavros ( _he_ , Gamzee also learned) did his best to poke around the rocks. He had a different metal pole thing with him today; it had a wider base that seemed to purposefully stick onto the wet rocks. It made Gamzee think of his friend Feferi’s tentacles and the little suckers on it.

This sucker pole thing seemed to really help Tavros transverse this terrain, and Gamzee was transfixed by the miracle. Yesterday he had only been able to get up on the first rock with Aradia’s assistance, and here he was now climbing them by himself. Sure he wasn’t as quick footed as Aradia, but that didn’t stop him from his search. Gamzee beamed at his miraculous little humans.

It was hard to not pop into sight and introduce himself. A large part of him wanted to so motherfucking bad—new friends were right there! But a teeny voice in the back of his thinkpan, all shouty and angry, told him not to do anything else stupid.

Gamzee could only listen to that voice for so long.

Just like every day the sun eventually retired and got out of the moon’s way. Humans started packing up and heading home. But not his. No, they staid behind like they had yesterday, settling on a rock to watch twilight fade into night. Gamzee swam up behind the rock they were on and watched them watching the sky.

He got lost in his thoughts, thinking on how interesting these humans were. Spent the whole day searching for something most humans didn’t even believe in unless they were little wigglers. Most would have given up when they didn’t catch a sign of him, but these two had seemed content to keep exploring. They had looked like they had been having fun, even without seeing Gamzee again.

Then they did spot him.

Aradia turned to say something to Tavros, then must have noticed something because she craned her head back. Her bright brown eyes widened more than twice their size as she poked Tavros in the side. He turned, too, and his eyes got just as impossibly wide. For a second Gamzee was lost in how they sparkled like the just appearing stars, both his and Aradia’s. They were downright _dazzling_.

“Uh, holy shit.”

“Tavros. _Tavros_!” Aradia half whispered half squealed. She latched onto his arm and squeezed. Neither looked away from Gamzee. “Do you know what this means?”

“Mermaids exist,” Tavros whispered back equally as excited and awed. “Or, uh, merfolk. I don’t want to assume their, ah, gender.”

“Yes, that too, but more importantly—Vriska owes me fifty bucks!”

“That, is the exact amount of importance as finding out a mythical creature really, uh, exists. Yes.”

“Oh, hush, I’ll treat you to ice cream when she ponies up.”

_Ice cream_ , Gamzee was pretty sure he knew what that was. His tail flipped excitedly as he pressed against the rock, grabbing onto its surface.

“Ice cream’s that melty motherfucker humans are always up and eating before it gets all over them, right? That shit always looked tasty.”

Aradia and Tavros both blinked, taken aback. Gamzee quirked his head.

“Aradia, uh, did the merfolk just, talk to us?”

She nodded, adding, “In english no less.”

“I really was not expecting that.”

Gamzee grinned and extended a hand like he’d seen humans do. “Hi, new friends. I’m Gamzee.” He honked.

Aradia didn’t hesitate before taking the offered hand and shaking it up and down so hard Gamzee’s whole body moved. 

“Whoops, sometimes I don’t know my own strength. I’m Aradia, and this is Tavros, and you are amazing!”

“Aww, shucks, that’s motherfucking sweet of you, Aradasis, but I ain’t nothing special. Not like you two.”

“Uh, not to offend you,” Tavros spoke up, “but from we’re sitting, you are the most, ah, special thing ever.”

Gamzee could actually feel his blush, face heating up like the sun was beaming directly down on it. He ducked his head all bashful and honked again, the happiest honk he’d ever emitted since quite possibly the moment he met his best friend Karkat when they were wigglers.

Aradia and Tavros were just as curious about Gamzee as he was about them. They spent hours on that rock, Gamzee even dragging himself out of the water to squeeze in between them. Aradia wanted to feel his scales and Gamzee let them both if he could touch their hair again. Their strange human fingers tickled.

They asked a thousand questions about him and his kind, and he returned a thousand more about humans and all their weird little miraculous selves. He learned about Tavros’ metal sucker pole thing (“I, uh, was in an accident as a kid, that paralyzed me from, uh, the waist down. But our friend Equius made me, ah, some amazing prosthetics that I’m still, getting used to. So he made me this specialized cane that, ah, does work like a sucker, like you called it, so I could climb the rocks better to look for you.”) and he explained all about merfolk.

He didn’t really know where to begin so Aradia and Tavros prompted him, specified questions, and the more and more they went on the more and more intrigued they seemed. They leaned in, hooked on his every word like a fish on one of those strings and hooks humans used; the irony made Gamzee laugh.

Enamored with the softness, Gamzee kept stroking his fingers through Aradia’s hair while they talked. Likewise the other two examined his tail and fins all over. Aradia was especially fascinated, twisting him every which way so she could get a good look. Tavros tried to tell her to be careful but Gamzee waved him off. This was all sorts of okay by him. He even convinced Tavros to poke and prod if he wanted to, didn’t hurt him any. And truth be told Gamzee adored the attention. So for a good long while Tavros felt his fins and scales, touching so delicate like that Gamzee couldn’t help squirming and giggling.

Eventually they all realized just how late it had gotten, and his humans had to leave. They promised to return the next day and Gamzee assured he’d be there. In fact Gamzee was at their spot far earlier than he usually was—he preferred sleeping in on normal occasions, but that day he was up with the sun. Really, he had hardly slept he was so excited.

When Aradia and Tavros got there they handed him what they called an ice cream cone. It had three scoops that were all different colors and told him it was all for him. Reverently he grabbed the cone with both hands and took a long experimental lick across all the scoops. His eyes instantly lit up.

It was motherfucking _delicious_.

Gamzee devoured it to the sound of his new friends’ laughter. He ended up with a good portion on him and wow, it was just as sticky as it looked. Luckily he could just hop back down into the water and let it do its thing. 

“I’m, uh, glad you liked it so much, Gamzee. You mentioned it yesterday, so we thought, you might want to try it for, yourself,” Tavros stammered. Gamzee beamed.

“Miraculous is what it is, brother. I wish I had all thought to bring you something, too.”

“Oh, that’s okay. Really, it’s more than enough just to see you again. Uh.” Tavros looked away, rubbing the back of his neck. Aradia snickered, though Gamzee wasn’t sure why.

“He’s right, though, Gamzee. I think friendship with a merman is more than enough of a gift. Especially one as interesting and fun as you are.”

That got his face all heated up again and Gamzee dunked his head into the water. He staid under for a second, hearing his humans talking above. It was all distorted, though, and Gamzee couldn’t make out a single word. 

He looked around, thinkpan whirring away. Sure they said it wasn’t important, but Gamzee still wanted to give them _something_ in return. His new friends deserved it. 

Something moved, catching his eye. Slowly he turned and spotted exactly what he needed: a fat, tasty looking fish. Gamzee couldn’t remember what it was called—he’d never been good at remembering names, just which ones were his favorites. And this one was some damn yummy fish.

Gamzee ran his tongue across his fangs, eyeing his target. It swam lazily, not a care in the world. Slowly he inched closer to it until he was right below the fish. He eased his tail into a tight coil, then suddenly sprung it out, propelling himself at the fish. Before it had time to flee Gamzee clamped his fangs down on the creature, trapping it in his mouth.

His momentum threw him out of the water. He gained a foot of air and flipped backwards to retain balance and not lose his prize. He hit the surface hard but it didn’t faze him; he didn’t let loose of the fish, either. Fruitlessly it flailed around, slapping Gamzee in the face. He only grinned and turned to his friends.

Aradia looked absolutely delighted; Tavros’ mouth was agape, which was all sorts of cute. She clapped and whistled as Gamzee swam over.

“That was impressive! Your teeth are so sharp.”

Gamzee spat the fish into his hand, grasping it by the tail so it couldn’t escape. It was already starting to settle down.

“Ha, yeah they sure motherfucking are. This is for you.”

“Oh! Thank you, Gamzee.”

Aradia took the fish and held it up so she could look at it all over like she had him. Tavros had a sort of disgusted look on his face. Worry filled Gamzee.

“What’s wrong, Tavbro?”

“Uh, nothing. It was, sweet of you to, um, catch us a fish. But I, uh, don't eat animals.”

Gamzee cocked his head. “None at all?” Tavros shook his head. 

“Tav only eats fruits and vegetables, but don’t worry he keeps up a varied diet so he’s not lacking in protein,” Aradia explained. 

Humans could survive without meat? “Fucking miraculous, brother.”

“Huh?”

Hauling himself up on the rock to settle back down between his humans Gamzee elaborated, “We ain’t really able to just not eat fish. They’re the easiest thing to get in the ocean, and pretty damn good tasting. So it’s pretty nifty you can just up and not eat meat, Tavbro.”

“Oh, um, well it’s only because, I, ah, love animals, so much. I just can’t bring myself to eat them. I know that sounds silly.”

Tavros wasn’t looking at Gamzee anymore but down at his hands that were fiddling about with no real purpose. Gamzee reached over and laid one of his bigger, webbed hands over them. Tavros looked up and Gamzee smiled.

“Nah, man, that’s not silly. That’s all sorts of motherfucking hardcore. You got such a big heart, Tavbro. I love it.”

“Th-thanks, Gamzee.”

There was something on his face Gamzee couldn’t read. Before he could ask about it Aradia spoke up.

“That just leaves more merman present for me. I’ll have this cleaned and cooked in no time.”

“Cooked?” Gamzee asked. His humans shared a look.

“You don’t, know what cooking is?”

Gamzee shook his head.

“Hm, I suppose that makes sense in retrospect.” Aradia grinned wide. “I’ll teach you! Follow me, boys.”

They went to a secluded little beach area on the other side of the rocks where no one could spot them. It was difficult for Tavros to get over some of the smaller or more jagged rocks, but he managed with Gamzee and Aradia’s help. Then Gamzee had trouble maneuvering on the sand due to his lack of useful human legs, so his humans helped him, too.

Eventually they decided on a spot to settle and Aradia got to cleaning the fish. Apparently she just had a knife on her which she attributed to her “prepared adventurous spirit”. While she prepared the fish Tavros went around gathering wood. He came back with several dry pieces and started setting them up, pointedly looking away from the fish.

Gamzee leaned in close and watched him. He didn’t have any idea what magic his humans were about to show him, but he was fascinated. 

Tavros took two sticks and placed them on top of the woodpile. He started rubbing them together quick as he could, and it wasn’t long before there was smoke followed by a few sparks. The sparks grew, soon enough igniting the wood. Tavros blew on the flames for a minute, urging them to keep going. When he pulled back they had a pretty little fire going.

“Whoa, motherfucker. That was amazing!”

Tavros just laughed and waved him off. “It’s, uh, nothing. Just my, ah, prepared adventurous spirit.”

“Let me show you what we’re going to do with this fire,” Aradia said. Then she skewered the fish and stuck the other end in the sand, positioning it so the fish was near the flames but not being devoured by them.

“Is this that ‘cooking’ thing?”

“Yup. I know it’s a gift for me, but when it’s done you’ll have to taste it.”

Gamzee’s eyes lit up at the thought of having food prepared for him by a human. That was all sorts of decadent and all sorts of miraculous. He couldn’t wait.

While the fish was cooking Gamzee asked where they got those “prepared adventurous spirits” from. It turned out that since they were kids they’d had a hobby of exploration. It started simple, like sneaking into abandoned buildings or going into caves they discovered, but it got harder after Tavros was paralyzed. But now that he had these new high-grade prosthetic legs they were making hundreds of different plans.

“There are so many places to go!” Tavros explained, eyes twinkling at something far away Gamzee couldn’t see. “So many neat things to see, to explore. Now that I have, legs that aren’t completely useless, me and Aradia can really go on adventures!”

“As soon as Tavros is more confident with his legs, and Equius says it’s alright, we’re off to see the world and all its wonders.”

“I’m, uh, glad our first wonder was meeting you,” Tavros stammered, smiling down at the sand. 

Aradia smiled directly at Gamzee, and it was dazzling. “Me, too.”

A hot warmth filled Gamzee, and he smiled, too.

When the fish was done cooking—Gamzee wasn’t sure what all the qualifications for ‘done’ were, but after some time Aradia took it off the stick and deemed it ready—she cut off a piece and handed it to Gamzee. He sniffed it curiously then put it into his mouth.

Gamzee had eaten fish warmed by the sun before, but that wasn’t even close to this experience. It was all warm and chewy, not slimy or smooth like how fish normally was. Aradia had taken out the bones so there wasn’t even that familiar crunch.

“This is a goddamn miracle,” Gamzee decided to the delight of his companions. 

Aradia and he shared the rest of the fish; she insisted since it was his first “hot meal” as she called it that he needed more than one bite. Tavros promised that he’d cook something for Gamzee, too, and they’d have a little picnic. Soon as he explained what a picnic was Gamzee got real excited.

He asked about the adventures they were all planning on having, and listened with rapt attention as they talked about far off places and things he had no context for. Sometimes they realized how clueless he was and explained a little, but a lot of it was just too much for him to understand, not having any real learning about human stuff. It was all fascinating, regardless, and truth be told Gamzee just really like to hear his humans talk so excitedly. Both of them had a habit of talking with their hands, their eyes, their whole bodies. It was a real spectacle, and Gamzee knew he could watch them this excited forever.

“Hopefully, by the end of summer, I should, uh, be acclimated to my new legs. Then we can start our journey.”

“Just a couple more months,” Aradia agreed. She had moved closer to Tavros during their conversation and now intwined their fingers. “You’ve been doing amazing so far!” Then she nudged Tavros with her shoulder, coaxing a shy grin from him. 

Gamzee smiled to himself. He loved watching them interact in little moments like this. It was obvious how long they’d known and loved each other. They fit together like…like the motherfucking beach and the ocean. Travel one long enough and you’ll find the other. It was downright beautiful to behold.

The next three days it rained. That didn’t keep his humans from visiting, however, even if Tavros held off on their picnic. Gamzee grinned wide when he saw their figures in the distance on the first day, tail swishing happily. It was heavy rain that kept most people away so they had the beach to themselves. They mostly holed themselves up in a small cave just off the shore. There was plenty of time for conversation even if the rain tried to drown that out, too. They just yelled over the pounding as best they could, sometimes playing charades and laughing when it all made no sense.

On the third day of rain it let up considerably, but staying outside would still have them drenched in no time. So it was another cave day, which Gamzee certainly didn’t mind and he didn’t think his humans did, either.

There was enough room for them all to sit separate but they always ended up pressed together one way or another. Currently Gamzee’s tail was splayed across Aradia’s lap—she stroked it absentmindedly and in turn he ran his fingers through her bouncy curls. He was pressed against Tavros’ side who wasn’t bothered by Gamzee’s hair in his face as he propped his chin on the top of Gamzee’s head. It was downright cozy.

With the rain not so loud against their shelter anymore it was much easier to hear each other. Funny enough though they’d lapsed into silence some time ago. All three of them had been dozing on and off, in fact. Gamzee had never felt like he had right then, never been so close with anyone let alone two humans. There was something safe and hopeful blooming in his chest and a stray thought flitted through his mind: _he didn’t want his new friends to leave him._

Gamzee shut his eyes and ignored the dread threatening to engulf him. Instead he listened to the soft breathing of his humans, their hearts beating in nearly the same, easygoing rhythm. It was soothing, and lulled Gamzee to sleep.

On the next day the skies were dry and clear. They ventured back to their secluded beach site. With the sand moist from the water it was a little easier for Gamzee to slither around; unfortunately it had the opposite effect for Tavros. His legs sunk a little in the wet sand, sometimes sticking to particularly moist areas. Thankfully he was getting more used to his legs and confident in moving around unassisted so he just pulled them free every time with a squelching sound that made him cringe.

Soon as they were settled Tavros set down the thing he’d called a picnic basket as Aradia put down a blanket. Then Tavros brought out several different containers and plates. He took one and piled it high with all sorts of tasty looking human foods which he handed to Gamzee.

“It’s all freshly made,” Tavros told him, already preparing a plate for Aradia next. “We came right over, ah, as soon as it was all done cooking. There’s rice, beans, and these are quesadillas.”

“Oh man, Tavbro, this all smells great!”

“Quesadillas are my favorite,” Aradia commented, taking her plate. “Thank you, Tavros.”

“Yeah, thanks Tavbro!”

“Aw, it’s no trouble, guys. I, uh, just really like cooking. So. Enjoy!”

Gamzee picked up the little triangle shaped thing first. He took a bite into the so called quesadilla and immediately his eyes lit up. Oh shit, this was _good_. Gamzee said as much even as he shoved more into his mouth, effectively muffling his words. Tavros and Aradia just laughed.

“I’ll take that, as a compliment.”

Gamzee nodded enthusiastically which only made the pair laugh harder.

He scarfed down the food in record time and he didn’t even have to ask for more before Tavros was refilling his plate. Gamzee’s heart swelled.

When everyone’s hunger was sated they all collapsed next to each other. Practically on top of each other, really. With a little bit of adjusting both Gamzee and Aradia could lay their head on Tavros’ chest. In turn he ran his fingers through their hair. Together they basked in the glow of the sun and a good meal, and each other.

A few days later Tavros brought out some curious object that Gamzee turned over in his hands. It was sort of oval shaped and green, with funny little images on them. Some looked like humans and one had cute wings. One human had a bitching coat and a hook in place of a hand.

“That’s a speaker,” Tavros told him. “Aradia and I thought we could, play you some music. If, uh, you don’t mind.”

“Sounds fucking amazing to me, brother. Who’s this?”

Gamzee pointed to one motherfucker all dressed up in green. He liked the little dude’s hat.

“Oh, uh, Peter Pan.” Tavros stared down at his hands, fiddling with his phone. Aradia giggled.

“Tavros has always been obsessed with Peter Pan, and not just the movie. Rufioh used to read it to him every night.”

“Oh my god, he didn’t need to know that.”

“But now he does.”

Aradia swooped in and pecked Tavros on the cheek. He groaned and hunched further over his phone.

“I don’t all got my know on for what a ‘movie’ is, or who this Pan fucker is, but I like his look. It’s cute.”

“Fantastic! Tavros used to dress up as him all the time when we were kids.” Again Tavros groaned, a drawn out affair that Aradia only talked over. “He has a bigger Peter Pan costume now.”

“Aww, that sounds adorable, Aradasis. I totally wanna see it.”

“I have pictures. I’ll bring them tomorrow.”

“Oh, look at that, music’s too loud to talk about, my costume choices and possible obsession anymore!” Tavros interjected, and suddenly loud noise was blaring from the speaker   
Gamzee still held. Startled he flipped it up in the air and it landed in the sand between them.

Tavros said something but Gamzee couldn’t hear him over the sound. He tilted his head and Tavros raised his voice, taking the hint.

“Whoops, sorry! Didn’t mean to, uh, scare you!”

Aradia reached over and touched his phone, and the sound lowered.

“Oh, right, I could have just, done that.”

Aradia ruffled his hair, which made Tavros pout yet he didn’t push her away. She giggled and commented, “I see you’re starting with some classic Outkast. Always a good choice.”

“This is, one of my favorite songs,” Tavros replied. To Gamzee he said, “I, uh, really like rap.”

Gamzee cocked his head towards the speaker. He listened to the quick beat, fast paced lyrics, and with each passing second grew more and more in love.

“Now this is some serious bitchtits sounds.”

“You really like it? Yes!” Tavros punched the air then looked back down at his phone, fingers moving faster than Gamzee could keep track of. “Oh man, this is awesome! I have so many songs to show you. You’ve gotta hear some Ludacris.”

“Ooh, first play him some Nicki Minaj,” Aradia said, leaning over to look at the screen. 

“‘Starships’?”

“Of course.”

They played him song after song, Tavros and Aradia singing along with abandon. Gamzee joined in whenever he caught on to the lyrics. They danced, too, Aradia spinning Tavros and Tavros spinning her. They bumped hips and grooved around with no shame, and it was a beautiful sight. 

Without a pair of miraculous human legs there weren’t a lot of moves Gamzee could do on land, but he still slapped his tail and shook around to the beat. At one point Aradia took one of his hands and Tavros took the other, and they shook around together until they all fell into a laughing heap. It was downright ridiculous, and Gamzee adored every second.

The weather staid absolutely motherfucking perfect. The sun was hot, offset by the cool breeze from the ocean. There were no more dark clouds in sight. Even as the end of summer approached, by some miracle the weather was fantastic.

As the end of summer approached Gamzee felt dread pooling inside his stomach, threatening to drown him. But he pushed it down as best he could, enjoying every last moment with his humans. Tavros kept getting more used to his new legs, and they talked more and more about the adventures they were going to have. Gamzee still loved to listen, eating up the joy on their faces, but he couldn’t stop the pang in his chest at the thought of them leaving him behind. That was still some time away, though.

Until it wasn’t.

One day Tavros and Aradia got there before Gamzee, already waiting for him on their rocks under a sun that hadn’t even finished rising. They didn’t spot him at first so he swam until he was just close enough. Then he sprung out and sprayed them with a stream of water. Tavros let out a startled squawk, falling back against Aradia’s side. She retaliated quickly, reaching into the water and slapping a wave at him.

“Good motherfucking morning, my righteous friends. You’re here early.”

“So are you,” Aradia pointed out.

“Do you, uh, always get here this early? How long, do you generally wait for us?”

“Tavbro, I ain’t too good with time telling,” Gamzee waved off, lowering into the water so his head was the only thing visible. Below the surface his hands fidgeted nervously against the rocks. His humans glanced at each other, and Gamzee was sure they were having some silent conversation in a quick second. Not wanting to deal with any more questions he asked, “So what’s with your early rising?”

“Oh! We have some big news,” Aradia answered, grin splitting her face in two. Both looked barely able to contain themselves.

“Equius finally gave the all-good!” Tavros exclaimed, bursting with such glee it was tangible. “By the end of the week, we’ll finally, get to go on our adventures.”

Gamzee’s stomach flipped. He ignored it and as he pulled himself out of the water he congratulated, “Fucking righteous, Tavbro! When’s the end of the week?”

“Right, sometimes I, uh, forget that merfolk don’t really operate on our, calendar.”

“And even if they did, I don’t think Gamzee would know regardless,” Aradia teased, reaching over and tugging lightly on his hair. Gamzee grinned; she wasn’t wrong.

“Sunday is in four days, and on Monday, we leave,” Tavros explained.

Four motherfucking days. Gamzee felt something inside him start crumbling.

“That’s not far off. So where’re you planning on going first?”

Gamzee listened as they told him their immediate itinerary, leaning back against Tavros. Judging by how it all seemed to crash into him, Gamzee felt that maybe it hadn’t seemed as real until this moment. His humans were really leaving him. Soon.

He wouldn’t let his dread show. Didn’t want to be responsible for dampening their high spirits. His humans deserved this, following their childhood dreams. And Gamzee was happy for them really. He was just gonna miss them a lot.

Gamzee doubled down on making his humans laugh, smile, and just generally fill them with cheer. He touched as much as he could, too, trying to commit every little bit of Tavros and Aradia to memory. He nestled up between them, laid his tail on their laps or wrapped it around their legs, ran fingers through their hair as much as he could. 

He brought them things, too, so they could have something to remember him on their amazing travels. He got Feferi to make a pair of necklaces for them, even. They was all sorts of beautiful, with different twisting shells that wrapped around a pearl, keeping it safe. Gamzee presented them to Tavros and Aradia on the very last day he had his humans. Their eyes sparkled and when Aradia commented on its beauty Gamzee beamed.

“Not as pretty as you two motherfuckers.”

Aradia actually blushed, and Tavros looked down bashfully.

They leaned down and let Gamzee put the necklaces on them. As they examined their gifts he watched them with an ache in his heart but pride on his face.

“Fucking radiant, my friends.”

“Oh, wow, Gamzee,” Tavros practically whispered, awe dripping from his words. “Thank you so much.”

“Ain’t no trouble. Think of ‘em as good luck charms. Figured you could use something like that on your wild adventures.”

The smiles on their faces was something to behold. They absolutely shone. Gamzee was proud of putting them there.

“Oh, Gamzee,” Aradia sighed. “I’m so glad we met you.”

Cheeks heating up Gamzee agreed, “Ha, me too, sister. Me too.”

Aradia turned to Tavros and one of those silent conversations seemed to be happening. Gamzee cocked his head, wondering what all his humans were thinking. He wanted to reach out for them, but was suddenly too shy after having giving them those necklaces.

To his surprised, they reached out for him.

Aradia took one of his hands in her own while Tavros took the other. Both looked at him right in the eyes with some sort of emotion that Gamzee couldn’t place, just knew it made him feel all fluttery.

“Gamzee, I know we’re, uh, leaving soon, but we don’t want you to, think we’re leaving you behind.”

“We promise we’ll return, and when we do we’ll come see you and tell you everything. We may be gone for a while, though.”

“Right now, we’re gonna be gone for, uh, at least three months. Which is a long time to, uh, be away from someone you really care about.”

“Aw, don’t all get your worry on for me,” Gamzee shrugged off. “I ain’t got no issue with waiting right here for ya. You deserve to go see the world.”

His humans exchanged another glance, this one brief before focusing back on him. Gamzee didn’t even have time to wonder what that was about before Aradia was saying, “Well, we wanted to give you a good reason to wait for us.”

Then her lips were on his. They were gone before Gamzee had a chance to kiss back, which was perfectly fine because then there were Tavros’ lips where hers had been.

“I, uh, hope that wasn’t, too presumptuous of us,” Tavros stammered.

Dazed, Gamzee could only offer them a smile in response. Thankfully they understood what it meant.

“We will be back to see you,” Aradia promised again. Her thumb was rubbing circles on the back of Gamzee’s hand.

“We’ll be sure to take, lots of pictures and get you, something nice everywhere we go,” Tavros added.

“As long as you motherfuckers come back, that’s all I rightly need.”

They kissed a few more times before the sun started dipping into the sea. They talked, too, about everything and nothing in particular. Gamzee made sure to memorize their laughs, the way Aradia’s hair whipped around as she chased Tavros across the sand. How Tavros stammered and rubbed the back of his neck when he was embarrassed. The feel of their lips, both so different from each other and absolutely perfect in every way.

Eventually they had to pack up and leave. They shared one last kiss each—not _goodbye_ , but _until next time_ —and Gamzee followed them to their rocks. He sat up on the one he’d first met them on and watched Tavros and Aradia disappear out of sight. His heart didn’t feel as heavy as he thought it would.

**Author's Note:**

> This is absolutely a one-shot, but if I ever did continue it I so have ideas.


End file.
